I fell again.” The old man said unto him, “Rise up again”; and the brother said unto him, “I did rise up again, many times, and I fell [again].” The old man said unto him, “Rise up again”; and the brother said unto him, “Until when?” The old man said unto him, “Until thou advancest, either in good deeds or in falling; for in the road wherein a man advanceth he goeth, whether it be to death or to life.”
606. It happened on one occasion that a brother in the monastery of Abbâ Hatîl (or Helît) was tempted, [and he fell,] and having been expelled from that place he went to the mountain, to Abbâ Anthony, and having remained with him for a long time, Abbâ Anthony sent him back to the monastery from which he had gone forth. Now when the sons of the monastery saw him, they cast him out, and he returned to Abbâ Anthony, and said unto him, “Father, they have refused to receive me”; and Abbâ Anthony sent them a message, saying, “A storm rose up against a ship on the sea, and destroyed the freight which she carried, but with the greatest difficulty she was saved [and brought] to land. Now what do ye wish to do? Do ye wish to drown him that hath been saved?” And when those monks [heard the words of] Abbâ Anthony, they sent to the brother, and welcomed him with gladness.
607. Abbâ Anthony used to say, “There are many who fall and who rise up to an attitude of rectitude, but there are some who fall from good deeds to polluted things; better is he who falleth and riseth up than he who standeth and then falleth.”
608. Abbâ Poemen said, “If a man sinneth, and he saith, ‘I have not sinned,’ and thou chidest him, thou cuttest off his will; but if thou sayest unto him, ‘Be not sorry about this, but guard thyself from sinning again,’ by these means thou wakest his soul to repentance.”
609. He also said, “I prefer a man who hath sinned, and done wickedly, and repented, to the man who hath not sinned and hath not manifested repentance; for the former possesseth a humble mind, and the latter esteemeth himself in his thoughts a just man.”
610. Abbâ Sarmâtâ used to say, “I prefer a man who hath sinned, and who knoweth how to acknowledge his sins, to him that doeth righteousness, and who saith, ‘I do what is fair.’ ”
611. Abbâ Theodore of Parmê used to say, “The man who is in [a state of] repentance is not bound by the Law.”
612. They used to say that the thoughts of a certain old man used to say unto him, “Let to-day go by, and repent to-morrow”; but he would say, “Nay, not so, for I will repent to-day, and to-morrow shall be as God willeth.”
